The Wall of Berlin and Other Matters
by wikelia
Summary: Modern AU. Hiccup's SUPPOSED to be learning about the Cold War. But it's difficult with one girl constantly badgering him, and even more difficult when Astrid Hofferson is sitting two seats away from him, making his heart pound in his chest. Oneshot.


**This is for Queenofthewilderwest's birthday! I hope you like it!**

"So the Wall of Berlin," the teacher stated after taking a long drink from his water bottle, "it created a literal divide between East and West Berlin. Already, Germany was divided, as we said yesterday, after the events of World War II. But now…" He made a motion with his hands to indicate a divide. "Since Berlin is too big, both sides have it."

Hiccup scribbled his notes, barely understanding what he was writing. It wasn't that what the teacher was saying was confusing, it was just that his handwriting was very messy (Hiccup's, not the teacher's). He could barely read it now, how would he study from it later?

He could just take a picture of the notes after class. And since that was allowed, and was a real, allowed, A-okay thing to do, why was anyone required to take notes in the first place?

The daily schedule of the class was that there would be notes and a lecture for the first half, and then a video would play for the second. It was a good method, seeing as the teacher would always find a video that repeated what he said but with pictures. That way, if you weren't listening the first time, you could get it the second time.

Unfortunately, the teacher would go and sit in the back of the class while the video was playing, and no one really watched it, they did their homework or talked. The only person who really watched it was Astrid.

But it wasn't to be mistaken that she wasted her time watching something she undoubtedly understood the first time. She would do her homework too. Not that day's homework, no. The homework that was due tomorrow.

Hiccup caught himself before he swooned when she pushed her bangs behind her ear and solved what seemed to be five geometry problems at once. He also hoped he had not sighed like a little kid. He probably had.

Before he could get lost in his own world again, doodling her and writing in his journal about how _amazing_ she was and imagining what married life would be like, a girl two rows down from him whispered, "Hey, Hiccup!"

He looked up at her. Her name started with J. Jalene. Jackie. J-J-Janice, that was it! She didn't usually talk to him. No one really did, seeing as how he was a transfer student.

"Yeah?"

"Do you like Heather?" she asked eagerly, completely throwing him off balance. What kind of question was that?

Heather, who was next to her friend on her phone, looked up and hit her shoulder. "Shut up, Jan! Sorry about that," she added to Hiccup kindly.

"Um...I uh...it's okay?" He felt his face get warm quickly and immediately Janice squealed, proving his suspicions correct.

"Heath, he's blushing!" She looked as though she had just been given a car on Christmas. "He _does_ have a crush on you!"

Heather blushed lightly too, and then both girls started giggling. His face felt even more warm, and he looked back at the teacher desperately. He was on his computer, not noticing a thing.

What did giggling girls even _mean_? Why did they giggle? Was he supposed to giggle too? Why did girls not teach them the art of giggling?

Hiccup saw Astrid smile at her paper. But he wasn't sure whether it was because of his horrible situation or because she had liked the geometry question she just answered. It was hard to tell. She didn't even talk to the other kids in the class. She sat like a loner, just like him. On her, though, it was attractive.

He had asked Astrid for a pencil once. She had smiled at him then, too. That had been the best five seconds of his life.

"Hey, Hiccup," Janice said again. He mentally groaned. "Do you think I'm pretty?"

There was no right answer to these questions. They either sounded offensive, or obsessive, and he didn't want to be either of those things.

"I - yes? You're - you're very pretty," he sighed, wanting to facepalm himself. One row left and one seat down, Astrid laughed softly.

Janice shot her a dirty look and then looked back at Hiccup, grinning. "I bet it's hard being the new kid, right?" Before he could answer that question, she went on, not wasting a single breath. "Hey, what do you think I got on my last test?"

"Um...84?" Hiccup offered weakly, sitting back in his seat. How was he supposed to know what she got? He didn't pay attention to her, the only girl he paid attention to got above 90s in every single test she did.

Actually, he knew a lot about Astrid. It was borderline creepy. She liked twirling her pencil. She did all her homework before going home. She typed fast and wrote faster. She didn't like pickles but ate them anyway.

All this he knew from observing.

"84! He thinks I got an 84," she said to Heather, as though she didn't know. "Do you really think I'm that dumb?"

"Yes," he wanted to say, but instead shrugged and said that he had picked a random number.

Janice was silent after that, and his heartbeat calmed, at least until Astrid turned around to face him, made sure the other two girls weren't looking, and then passed him a note.

Hiccup nearly dropped it. She had just looked at him. Sitting in front of the class, she didn't turn around very often, and even when she did, it was to look at the teacher, to ask him a question.

The note read, _Why don't you just ignore them?_

Hiccup tried to stop grinning like a dope. Maybe there was an upside to Janice bothering him after all. The girl who he had a crush on since...since he saw her finish her test before everyone else that first time they had one together, she was talking to him. Through notes, yeah, but that was a start.

 _There kinda scary, actually_

She rolled her eyes when she saw his note. He thought it would be that he was scared of his classmates, but her note back said:

 _It's spelled "they're."_

Hiccup opened and closed his mouth, looking up at her. To his surprise, she was blushing, and then she leaned over and whispered, "Sorry, I'm a nerd. But I can't stand bad grammar in texting or notes."

Hiccup's mind went into overdrive, because she was talking to him. Not asking him for a pencil, or making a comment about the weather, she was actually talking to him willingly and telling him something about her. Without really fully processing it first, Hiccup blurted, "I'll never make a grammar mistake again."

Astrid laughed, and that caught Janice's attention. "Hey, Astrid!"

"What?" she snapped, and Hiccup's eyes widened. He scooted back in his chair, wishing the wall would swallow him up. He'd never seen her get angry before, and it looked like it wasn't pretty.

"Stop hitting on him, he likes Heather."

Next to her, Heather sighed and shook her head, obviously as fed up with her friend as everyone else was. However, unlike Astrid, she kept silent.

The blonde girl's eyes narrowed. "If he likes Heather so much, maybe you shouldn't be asking him if he thinks you're pretty."

Janice gasped. "Maybe you should mind your own business and not eavesdrop!"

"How could I not hear you, you sound like Alvin from Alvin and the Chipmunks," Astrid snapped. She clearly had no problem telling someone if they were irritating her. "And if you're going to bother the poor new kid, hell if he thinks you're pretty!" She clenched her fist. "Be honest, Janice, you got less than 84, and we all know it."

"Whore," Janice seethed as she turned back around. Hiccup saw Astrid's cheeks redden with anger, but the bell rang before anyone could add salt to the wound.

Hiccup followed her in the hallway as she scurried from the room. "Astrid - Astrid!"

"What?" She turned around, her look softening when she saw it was him.

He took a deep breath. "Sorry, for what happened back there. A-and thanks, too, for getting her attention off me."

Her cheeks turned red again, but he could tell this was because she was pleasantly surprised, not angry. "No problem," she mumbled, before looking up, "are you free this Friday?"

It took a while to muster words for him to speak. "Yes. Yes, I am definitely free. Except for like, you know, schol. But I don't think you were talking about that."

She laughed again - it was a sound that he could grow used to easily.

"Great, um, do you wanna hang out...or something? The new Avengers movie is playing, we could go see that." She looked as hopeful as he felt.

Maybe this was a dream. Maybe he had drunk wine last night. He never drank wine, but it was still more plausible than Astrid Hofferson asking him out.

"Definitely," he breathed out. If this was a dream. He was going to enjoy it before it ended. "I love the Avengers."

"Me too!" Astrid said eagerly and then caught herself, coughing and tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Anyway, I'll, ahem, check out the timings and get back to you tomorrow. Is that okay?"

It was the most okay thing in his life, and he told her so, albeit a little less dramatically. Both of them said their goodbyes and walked off to their separate classes, and Hiccup whooped.

Even with the whispers of him having lost it, and being late to his next class, it didn't matter.

Damn Janice. Now he was supposed to thank her.

 **Happy Birthday, friend! Everyone, go read her stories, chop chop!**


End file.
